There was. one who having inserted a shepherd's reed in hi3 6taff, played thereon and sang with his voice, not the pious psalms of the church, but the unholy madrigals of the sin-ful and profane. And for that he saw it pleased me not, he delighted in it the more, and walked by my side, and when I could not rid myself of his company, I questioned him concerning his history.
" He was an Anglo-Dane of the north countrie, a bom thrall of Earl Edwin, and had led a roving life from his youth. This man, whose name was Hardrager, was the false vassal who betrayed the young noble, and received from the jus-tice of the Conqueror, the sentence of perpetual imprison-ment. But the princes of this world are often compelled to use unworthy instruments in carrying forward their plans. When your royal father deemed it expedient for the peace of the realm to punish the treason of Earl Waltheof, and no man was willing to become his executioner, Hardrager purchased free pardon by beheading him."
" It was well he sought to expiate his offences by a pil-grimage," said Adela.
" Nay," said Ingulf us, " no thought of true penitence had 'ever entered his mind. Instead of profiting by the clemency of his sovereign, he applied himself anew to wicked prac-tices, pursuing the hare and slaughtering the deer in the New Forest; till finally having suffered the loss of an ear for his crimes, and still continuing to set at naught the game laws, he was condemned to death ; but as if the Almighty * had raised him up for a ' thorn in the flesh' to his servants, Hardrager again escaped his doom. It pleased your noble sire, when he founded Battle Abbey, on the field of Hast-ings, and appointed monks to pray for the souls of the slain, to grant to the Abbot the power of showing mercy to the guilty. It chanced accordingly when Hardrager was drawn from his dungeon, and carried toward the gibbet, .that the worthy Abbot meeting the cart, caused the procession to stop, and moved with pity for the criminal revoked his sen-tence, and laid on him the penance of pilgrimage. Hard-rager lost no time in quitting England, and found means to
50
HEROINES OP THE CRUSADES.

"Medievalist" is an educational project designed as a digital collection of chronicles, documents and studies related to the middle age history. All materials from this site are permitted for non commersial use unless otherwise indicated. If you reduplicate documents from here you have to indicate "Medievalist" as a source and place link to us.